That is confusing. “PM” is “post meridian” or, as I understand it, after the middle. One would think it wouldn’t be PM until 12:01 or at least 12:00:01.
Which is why I, as you said, use “noon” and “midnight.”
I can never remember it properly either but when someone reminds me (thanks samus12345) which way around it is it does kind of make sense.
If you think of 12:00 as literally an infinitesimal slice of time it’s not really possible to give it an am/pm distinction, as it is literally the devider between the two. BUT, in a more real-life approach 12:00 is probably not an infinitesimal slice of time but the minute after a digital clock flipped to 12:00. That can be 12:00:00.00004 or 12:00:30 or 12:00:59.999944. And all those are indisputably pm.
Correct - technically, noon is neither am nor pm, but clocks and the like have to have SOMETHING there, so am for midnight and pm for noon was arbitrarily chosen.
If you look at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock#Confusion_at_noon_and_midnight it’s also not at all clear if 12:00 am is midnight or noon.
To me the clock jumping from 11:59 am to 12:00 pm and then again from 12:59 pm to 1:00 pm seems weird. Imho, stepping from 11:59 am to 12:00 am and from 12:59 am to 1:00 pm would be more logical.
I agree with probably 50% of your post. I agree that it’s not clear whether 12:00am is midnight or noon. However, if you recognize noon as the meridian, 12:00:01 is post meridian, i.e. after the middle (presuming that 12:00:00 was the meridian). It becomes after the middle immediately after the middle, not an hour later.
I don’t mean to be contrarian, but that’s not the part that confuses me personally. Really I think the world should just convert to 24 hour time.
Sorry, I just discovered this community and didn’t look at the date.
Really I think the world should just convert to 24 hour time.
Definitely. In Germany, we often use the 12 hour system in spoken language, but always with an indication (morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night) unless it’s already clear from the context. But in written language, using the 24h system is most common.
No need to apologize! I was expressing surprise, not displeasure.
In the USA, as I’m assuming you know due to your clear fluency in the language, we largely rely on context but add am/pm if necessary. Most of the time when I personally discuss times, it’s for an appointment or meeting, and most of my 12:30 meetings aren’t happening thirty minutes after midnight (the ones that do aren’t usually scheduled in advance). We’ve managed so far, but there are for sure better approaches.
I would like to reiterate that I wasn’t criticizing, just observing. My search engine says it’s 8am in Germany, so hopefully you’re having a great morning!
That is confusing. “PM” is “post meridian” or, as I understand it, after the middle. One would think it wouldn’t be PM until 12:01 or at least 12:00:01.
Which is why I, as you said, use “noon” and “midnight.”
I can never remember it properly either but when someone reminds me (thanks samus12345) which way around it is it does kind of make sense.
If you think of 12:00 as literally an infinitesimal slice of time it’s not really possible to give it an am/pm distinction, as it is literally the devider between the two. BUT, in a more real-life approach 12:00 is probably not an infinitesimal slice of time but the minute after a digital clock flipped to 12:00. That can be 12:00:00.00004 or 12:00:30 or 12:00:59.999944. And all those are indisputably pm.
Couldn’t it be 00:00 PM? So zero time since meridian?
That’s not a bad suggestion, but may interfere with 24 hour clocks.
That’s why you switch the clocks over to 24 hours
I can’t tell if you’re agreeing or arguing with me.
Correct - technically, noon is neither am nor pm, but clocks and the like have to have SOMETHING there, so am for midnight and pm for noon was arbitrarily chosen.
If you look at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock#Confusion_at_noon_and_midnight it’s also not at all clear if 12:00 am is midnight or noon.
To me the clock jumping from 11:59 am to 12:00 pm and then again from 12:59 pm to 1:00 pm seems weird. Imho, stepping from 11:59 am to 12:00 am and from 12:59 am to 1:00 pm would be more logical.
Didn’t expect this almost a month later.
I agree with probably 50% of your post. I agree that it’s not clear whether 12:00am is midnight or noon. However, if you recognize noon as the meridian, 12:00:01 is post meridian, i.e. after the middle (presuming that 12:00:00 was the meridian). It becomes after the middle immediately after the middle, not an hour later.
I don’t mean to be contrarian, but that’s not the part that confuses me personally. Really I think the world should just convert to 24 hour time.
Sorry, I just discovered this community and didn’t look at the date.
Definitely. In Germany, we often use the 12 hour system in spoken language, but always with an indication (morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night) unless it’s already clear from the context. But in written language, using the 24h system is most common.
No need to apologize! I was expressing surprise, not displeasure.
In the USA, as I’m assuming you know due to your clear fluency in the language, we largely rely on context but add am/pm if necessary. Most of the time when I personally discuss times, it’s for an appointment or meeting, and most of my 12:30 meetings aren’t happening thirty minutes after midnight (the ones that do aren’t usually scheduled in advance). We’ve managed so far, but there are for sure better approaches.
I would like to reiterate that I wasn’t criticizing, just observing. My search engine says it’s 8am in Germany, so hopefully you’re having a great morning!
I didn’t feel your reply as critics too. I also wish you have a great time, whatever time your clock might currently show.
Just shy of 3am.